


tie yourself to the tracks

by harpers_mirror (SapphireBryony)



Series: nobody loves you like me [4]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Multi, Poly triad, consent based on deception, this roller coaster only goes down
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 14:12:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12110460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireBryony/pseuds/harpers_mirror
Summary: Nothing lasts forever. And nothing is ever as good as it seems. Doug should really know this by now.





	tie yourself to the tracks

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read part one of the series "the subtle approach" (and its original inspiring work "breathe the fickle air") I highly recommend you do that first.

“Hey boss, how’s it hanging?” Shouting to be heard over the whirring of the mixer, I skidded into the kitchen, sock-clad feet sliding on the linoleum. My trajectory was cut short by a firm hand to the chest. “Ooof!”

“Careful Eiffel. Power tool being used here. Give me a second.” Minkowski dropped her hand from my chest—aw, darn—and turned back to the bowl full of—well, I honestly couldn’t really tell what it was. The bowl full of a brown, batter-like substance currently being vigorously thrashed by the KitchenAid. Whatever it was, it apparently required her full attention at the moment. 

So I shut up and let her concentrate, watching her lips move silently, counting off the seconds. At “sixty,” she flicked the switch on the side of the appliance and the beaters slowed to a stop. She turned towards me and I tried to look innocent, and like I hadn’t just been thinking all kinds of naughty thoughts about her mouth.

“Okay, now, what did you need?”

“Huh? Oh nothing. Just saying hi. What’s that?” I stuck my finger into the bowl. Um, ew? The substance felt simultaneously liquid and solid, like that ooblek stuff you made in elementary school science class. Some of it stuck to my hand and didn’t come off, even when I made like the Hokey Pokey.

Minkowski swatted me with a rubber spatula. 

“Ow!” I protested, wiping my sticky, reddened hand on my jeans.

“It’s dinner. Or it was going to be, before some horrible ape-man creature came along and stuck his hairy  _ paws _ in it.”

“Hey now, I resemble that remark.” The blob was still clinging to my fingertip. Why wouldn’t this stuff come  _ off? _ I grabbed for a paper towel, but the paper stuck to the mystery dough. In true me fashion, I’d managed to just compound the problem.

Putting on my most pathetic face, I waved my sticky, paper-product-bedecked hand at Minkowski. “Bossss,  _ help."_ I made sure my eyes were as big and puppy-like as possible. 

__

She sighed, but I could see the grin behind it. “Fine. Just promise not to stick your hand in the mixer again?” 

__

“Deal!” I grinned at her sheepishly as she wiped my hand off, sighing again. 

__

“Honestly Doug, sometimes I feel like your mother. That is  _ not _ a feeling I particularly enjoy, by the by. Our relationship is complicated enough without getting all Freudian about it.”

__

Waggling my eyebrows at her, I slid my newly-clean hands around her waist and pulled her close. “I’ll show you complicated,” I said, kissing my way down the side of her neck. 

__

“That—mmm—doesn’t even make sense,” came the slightly breathless response. 

__

I grinned against her skin and continued downward. “I’ll make your sense.” 

__

She could protest all she liked—and, in the wake of my last nonsensical salvo, she was doing exactly that—but we’d been “complicated” long enough now for me to recognize when she was enjoying something. And since she was wearing a tank top that bared her shoulders and collarbones and the whole gorgeous line of her neck, I was content to keep tormenting her a while longer. 

__

But—“Doug.”

__

“Hmmm?” I was listening to her, I swear, but the majority of my interest was focused on dragging my lips up the back of her neck. Biting lightly at her earlobe, I murmured, “Did you need something boss?” What was beeping? It was annoying and distracting and right now,  _ I _ wanted to be the distraction in the room.

__

_ “Doug,” _ she said again and, since she was now actively trying to get away, I tried to focus on what was actually going on. That beeping was still there—was it the microwave or something? Renee had twisted around in my arms and—oh. Trying to hit a button on the stove. A process I was actively hindering. I let go and stepped back, feeling silly and ridiculous and more than a little in-the-way, and stayed there as she quickly dumped the mystery mix into a bread pan and stuck it in the oven and hit a few more buttons.

__

I decided to just get out of her way and leave her to it. “I’m just gonna...” I said, gesturing weakly at the doorway as I moved toward it. Just gonna mumble mumble trail off out the door. Or at least, that was the plan until something snagged the back of my shirt. 

__

Renee pulled me back into the kitchen and turned me to face her, and I let her. I rarely argue with short, dominant redheads who want to manhandle me on general principle. She was looking at me appraisingly. 

__

“We good, Eiffel?” she asked, her gaze like a freaking TSA body-scan beam. 

__

I nodded what was evidently an unconvincing nod because she sighed.

__

“Doug...”

__

“Honest, boss, we’re good. Sorry I got in your way.”

__

“You really didn’t. Except in the most literal way, that is. And did you hear me complaining?”

__

“Some.” I grinned at her. “Minkowski, you know everything you say sounds vaguely annoyed to me, right?”

__

She shook her head—see? annoyed!—tugged on my hair and pulled me down for a kiss and  _ damn, _ I was never going to get used to this. Every time completely took my breath away, but in the really good way, the “first big drop on a roller coaster” kind of way, not the nasty “drowning in space” kind of way. 

__

Lips still firmly connected to hers, I took a chance and hoisted her up, setting her on the countertop behind her. Not in the way, huh? Okay then, Minkowski. 

__

Let’s take up some space.

__

She squeaked a little as her butt hit the counter and for half a second, I panicked, thinking I’d sat her on, I don’t know, a fork or something. But she didn’t stop kissing me, so either Minkowski was into forks up the butt, or all was well. I was firmly committed to assuming it was the latter for my own peace of mind.

__

Dragging my hands back down her thighs, I realized she was wearing loose shorts and hoo boy. Ideas. Really fun naughty ideas. I tentatively slid one hand back up, inside the leg of her shorts this time and, when she didn’t stop me or move or tell me this was inappropriate to do in front of the dinner ingredients, I risked a little more, trailing my fingers along the edge of her underwear and then under the fabric.

__

Minkowski broke our kiss with a breathy laugh. “So,” she murmured, kissing me right under my ear. Her breath tickled and I shuddered. “Feeling better then?”

__

“Yeah, sure, loads, so much better, you have no idea, good work boss.” My words fell out in a jumbled heap but Minkowski was chuckling lowly against my ear and my entire left side had turned to goosebumps and there was a distinct shortage of blood flow to my brain so, yeah. She was good at interpreting my lunatic babble, she had years of practice in situations more complicated and dire than this. I had faith.

__

Talking and making sense were clearly not on the agenda for this afternoon, so I turned my attention to something I was decidedly better at—getting Renee Minkowski to make the most amazing, awesome orgasm faces. Seriously, they were a sight to behold. Watching her restraint fall away and reveal this incredible passion underneath—well, yeah, it was fucking hot. Not to put too fine a point on it.

__

Wrapping my free hand around her ponytail, I gently tugged her head back and my mouth resumed its earlier, interrupted exploration of her neck and shoulders. Two fingers of the other hand slid inside her, eliciting the  _ nicest _ gasp with my thumb circling just above. 

__

She slid forward on the counter a little, bracing herself against me. I smiled into her neck, feeling her tense around my hand, loving how easily she melted into me. She slid forward a bit more, urging my fingers deeper and I was more than happy to oblige the unspoken request. Her mouth was against my cheek and I could feel her breath coming harsher, heard a very quiet sigh that definitely sounded like my name. The sound shot a jolt of longing through me.

__

I was about thirty seconds away from even greater levels of indecency when a subtle cough from behind me yanked me out of the moment and back into the kitchen. 

__

“Sorry, guys, I didn’t meant to interrupt. Please, by all means, carry on.”

__

Oh shit. I turned hastily to face him. “Uh, sorry, Dom. I didn’t—” Wait, no, that sounded like I was apologizing to him for doing something wrong, and Minkowski would definitely not be amused by how patriarchal and weird that sounded. Wheeling back around to face her, I hastily added, “Not that—I mean, I know you can -” Realizing I had  _ no idea _ what I was trying to say, I sighed, slumping against the counter. “Balls. I’m...done talking.”

__

“And they say miracles don’t exist,” muttered Minkowski from behind me. I tilted my head backwards and stared mournfully at her. 

__

“Really? You think the sad kitten face will work on  _ me? _ ” she asked scornfully. “Honestly Doug, you really never learn.”

__

Hearing a snort of laughter from the doorway, I flipped my head upright again. Whoa, bad idea—all the blood in my body rushed southward once again and I blinked, feeling a bit woozy.

__

Dom, having gotten his laughter under control, was trying his hardest to look chagrined. I could see the grin flirting with the corners of his mouth.

__

“Honestly, Doug, believe me when I say that it was  _ really not a problem _ . Or if it was, it would be a really nice problem to have.” He winked at us and nope, I was wrong before, there  _ was _ a deeper shade of red for Minkowski to turn! How about that.

__

Feeling altogether more confident, I turned back to the doorway. “So Dom, like you saw, we were kinda in the middle of something. Now I know  _ I _ have no objections to you tagging in here.” Glancing over at Minkowski I winked and asked, “Whatcha say, boss? Wanna scandalize the Pyrex a little more?”

__

She opened her mouth to answer but Dom cut in. “Actually guys, I have a call to make, last minute work thing. That’s why I came in, just wanted to let you know I was going to be tied up—dirty, yes, I know, Doug—for maybe twenty five minutes. Just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss dinner.”

__

Minkowski finally got a chance to enter the conversation. “That’s fine, dinner has another—” She pushed my head to the side.

__

“Ow!” I protested half-heartedly.

__

“You head was blocking the oven timer. Another 35 minutes to go. You’ll be fine, Nik.”

__

“And maybe,” I said, still sideways, “whatever that was she just put in the oven will actually resemble food when that time is up!”

__

Amid Minkowski’s annoyed protests, I freed myself from her clutches and shot big, beleaguered puppy-dog eyes across the kitchen at Dominik, knowing they had a chance of actually working on him.

__

“Dom, help, save me, she’s a maniac! She’s dangerous! She’s—ow!—poking me in the neck!”

__

Laughing, he came to my rescue, wrapping his arms around his wife’s waist and spinning her away from me. “Darling,” he said, “I know you can’t keep your hands off of Doug, and trust me, no one understands that impulse more than me. But try not to damage him, yes? I rather like having him around.”

__

She grinned up at him. “Deal. But only because you asked so nicely.” And then it was their turn to be the ones making out in the kitchen while I watched fondly. 

__

Not breaking his kiss with Minkowski, Dom extended a hand to me and I took it. He reeled me in until I was pressed against Minkowski’s back, my free arm wrapped around them both, then kissed me over his wife’s shoulder.

__

“Now,” he said after a moment’s dedicated smooching. “I really do have to make that conference call. I’ll be out when I’m done. I shouldn’t be long, try not to maul each other too much.” One last kiss for each of us and then he swung out of the kitchen in the direction of his study.

__

I stood for a moment behind Minkowski, still wrapped around her. The sunlight was streaming in through the windows above the sink and the whole room seemed to glow. I tightened my grip on the woman in my arms and closed my eyes, feeling a sudden unexpected wave of peace wash over me. 

__

“Have I mentioned recently that I really love you, kind of a lot?” I spoke quietly, my lips pressed against her hair. It wasn’t the moment for volume or silliness—I was too afraid to break this spell. But the words were begging to be said, the feeling so big it made my chest hurt a little bit. 

__

Minkowski turned in my arms and looked up at me, smiling softly. “Love you too, you big dork.”

__

I grinned and the mood faded. “Cool. So...” I waggled my eyebrows and looked back at the counter. “More enthusiastic kitchen sex?” 

__

“Doug!” Ah, there was that blush back in full force. She cleared her throat. “Not that I wasn’t, you know,  _ enjoying _ myself a minute ago, but is a rain check an option? I’d rather wait til after dinner when we have...time. Is that okay with you?”

__

Raising my hands in the air, I smiled. “Five by five, boss. I am totally amenable to a rain check. Just let me know what you want from me and I’m there.”

__

She smiled too, running a hand through her messed-up hair. Whoops, I guess I got a little carried away tugging on it...

__

“Fantastic. Now, get your butt out of the kitchen until dinner is ready.”

__

“Aye-aye cap’n. I’m gone. I’ll be up in the attic if you need me. Gotta see what the neighborhood is up to this fine evening.”

__

Minkowski groaned. “Just...don’t get into trouble. Okay?”

__

“I’ll do my best.” Wow, that did  _ not _ sound sincere. Better work on that.

__

“And Doug?” she called. 

__

I turned back. “Yeah boss?” She strolled over to me, with— _ goddamn— _ a positively wicked look on her face. Gulp.

__

“After dinner?” she said. “I’ll show you  _ exactly _ what I want from you.”

__

Someone had sneakily replaced my knees with jello. What a jerk that person was. Fighting against the urge to flop jello-ly to the floor and die happy, I spluttered, “Y-yes  _ sir.” _

__

I kissed Renee squarely on the ear, and headed upstairs, bouncy as a Super Ball and whistling something jaunty and off-key.

__

Upstairs—in what Minkowski had fondly deemed my “lair”—I plopped into my awesome squashy chair and hit a couple of buttons on my mad communications officer array. When we’d made it back to Earth and proved once and for all hey, not dead yet, Goddard decided to pay us ridiculously large sums of money not to murder them. 

__

And while not everyone thought the deal was so equitable, I am generally not inclined to turn down large piles of money when people hand them to me, especially once I realized what I could do with said piles of money. 

__

A decent chunk of it had already been delegated elsewhere, but with some of what was left over, I’d bought myself every fancy communications-related gadget my greedy little heart desired. Everything I had ever tried to MacGyver together out of less-fancy gadgetry and rubber bands was mine, and I was putting it to damn good use: spying on everyone in our neighborhood.

__

Was it the best, most productive possible use of my time and resources? Hell no. Every so often, my more sensible self—a little voice in the back of my head that sounded an awful lot like a certain former space station commander, come to think of it—tried to interject this was ridiculous, juvenile, and invasive, and that I really needed to put down the headphones and the police scanner. My response usually consisted of interrupting it mid-argument to fill it in on the latest juicy details from the unfolding cheating scandal slash paternity suit slash acrimonious divorce playing out in real time two houses down.

__

Maybe someday I’d use my talents for good, but for now I was just living for the drama. Headphones on, I checked the police scanner first. 

__

Fender-bender? Boring. 

__

Suspicious-looking youth in a hoodie seen walking down the sidewalk? Boring with a side of probable racism.

__

Traffic jam caused by a flock of wild turkeys loitering in the street? Funny, but probably more entertaining to watch than to hear about.

__

It was evidently a slow news day on the official channels. Might as well switch to the, uh, less official ones. 

__

From a locked drawer in the bottom of my desk, I removed my pride and joy, the ultimate tool in my nosy collection: my cell phone call interceptor. The ad copy on the totally legit website I’d bought it from had been full of really awful sentiments about spying on your wife, which, gross. I used it not to betray the trust of my loved ones but instead to cast a wide net of all incoming and outgoing phone calls in the area. Minkowski didn’t exactly  _ approve _ but she knew all my fiddling and tinkering made me happy so she seem content for the moment to let it be.

__

The device could be set to target specific programmed phones or it could scan until it picked something up. Switching it to the second option, I leaned back in my chair and listened.

__

_ “...and then, he was like, ‘Well,  _ I _ don’t think it’s cheating, so that’s okay, right?’ And I was like, “Really you dick?” and then he was like...” _

__

Scan. Too many “likes.”

__

_ “Yeah, I already reserved our tickets to the thing. We’re in the back of the balcony...” _

__

Scan. Boring.

__

_ “My mom said you can come over tomorrow after school. And we’re allowed to use the treehouse again as long as we don’t...” _

__

Scan. Listening to little kids felt creepy.

__

_ “Did you see that bit on the news last night? About the Supreme Court? Whole world’s going to hell in a handbasket...” _

__

Scan. Politics—yikes.

__

_ “No no, everything is good. Great, even. I just walked in on them making out in the kitchen not twenty minutes ago.” _

__

Sc—wait, Dominik? Oh crap, I’d accidentally intercepted Dom’s phone! But—hang on a sec, he was supposed to be on a  _ work _ call. Why was he talking about me and Minkowski making out? 

__

I’d never intended to listen to his call. I’d never intended to violate his privacy. But I was just so  _ curious _ now that I had to know. I turned the volume up a smidge and kept listening.

__

_ “Hmm?” _ Dominik was asking.  _ “Oh no, sir, everything is going according to plan. Well, my plan anyway. I decided  _ not _ to take some of Rachel’s more...creative suggestions.”  _ There was a pause in the conversation and I realized my scanner was only picking up his end of the conversation. Weird. It usually transmitted both. Maybe it was a frequency thing? I’d have to fiddle with it later.

__

_ “Like I said, sir, it’s all going according to plan.” _

__

Maybe if I change the settings—

__

_ “They’re happy, I’m happy, and nobody knows anything they shouldn’t.” _

__

Nope, that didn’t change anything. Okay, flip the three switches on the top panel that didn’t actually do anything, but made me feel like Wash from  _ Firefly, _ and then invert the—

__

_ “And it’s going to stay that way forever.” _

__

Oooh, how about recalibrating the—

__

_ “I promise.” _

__

It sounded like he was about to hang up, this was probably my last chance. We were in a long pause and I tried to make the most of the time given to me. One last thing to try, but it involved rebooting my system and I’d lose recording capabilities as long as it was done. And since I never actually  _ kept _ the recordings anyway—because, creepy—that wasn’t a huge deal. Of greater concern was why my equipment wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. 

__

I initiated the reboot just as Dom’s voice came back on the line.

__

_ “Yes sir, of course. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”  _ A brief pause and then— _ “You too, Mr. Cutter.” _

__

The line went dead. My system whirred back to life. And the bottom dropped out of my stomach.

__


End file.
